International

Business wire

December 13, 1985

(BU) TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. confirmed Thursday it would build an auto assembly plant in Cambridge, Ontario, about 60 miles west of Toronto, a day after the Japanese automaker announced it would build a U.S. assembly plant in Georgetown, Ky. The Canadian plant, to cost about $300 million in U.S. dollars, would employ about 1,000 people in 1988, when it begins producing about 50,000 Corolla-type cars annually. If a second shift is added, another 800 workers would be needed, the automaker said. Toyota is getting financial aid from the Ontario government in the form of some interest-free loans and training incentives.

(BU) AVON PRODUCTS INC. has worked out a barter deal with the Soviet Union in which Avon plans to give Soviet women access to Western cosmetics in their stores, in return for $4 million worth of Soviet-made china and crystal. John Cox, a spokesman at Avon`s New York City headquarters, said Avon intends to use the Soviet china and crystal as incentives and gifts for its sales force.

NATIONAL

(BU) YIELDS ON SHORT-TERM Treasury securities fell in the delayed weekly auction Thursday. The Treasury Department sold $7.6 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 7.05 percent, down from 7.19 percent last week. Another $7.6 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 7.02 percent, down from 7.26 percent, the lowest since 7 percent on July 8. The weekly auction is normally held on Monday but was delayed this week until Congress increased the government`s borrowing authority. Treasury Department officials said the bills would be issued today as if the auction had been held on Monday. As a result, investors who have authorized the department to automatically roll over their Treasury bill investments this week won`t lose any interest.

(BU) U.S. SAVINGS BONDS were back on the market Thursday after Congress to raised the national borrowing limit to $2 trillion. Sales of special securities to state and local governments also were resumed, the Treasury Department said. Sales of savings bonds were halted last Saturday at the Federal Reserve Banks and 42,000 other outlets because of the impasse on the debt ceiling bill.

(BU) CONSUMER PRICES should rise about 3.8 percent in 1986, just slightly more than this year, Standard & Poor`s Corp., the financial information company, predicted Thursday in its annual survey of consumer living costs. Food and soft drinks, beer, new cars and electricity all should rise in price more slowly than the overall Consumer Price Index, and natural gas and air travel might even get cheaper, the survey said. On the other hand, health care, liquor and cigarette prices should outstrip the predicted inflation rate, Standard & Poor`s said. Oil, food and commodities may ``experience flat to falling prices`` in 1986. Prices of new homes will rise about 5 or 6 percent in 1986, but mortgage payments for a typical new home will fall about 3.5 percent because of lower interest rates on mortgages, the survey predicts.

(BU) THE NATION`S BASIC money supply rose $5.3 billion for the week ended Dec. 2, the Federal Reserve Board said Thursday. The latest increase in the M1 measure - which represents money readily available for spending - left it far above the targets set by the Fed for non-inflationary economic growth. The Fed said M1 rose to a seasonally adjusted $626.1 billion from an adjusted $620.8 billion the previous week. The figure for the previous week had originally been reported at $621 billion. M1 includes cash in circulation, deposits in checking accounts and non-bank travelers checks. For the latest 13 weeks, M1 averaged $614 billion, a 10.5 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate of gain from the previous 13 weeks. The Fed has said it would like to see M1 grow only 3 to 8 percent from the second quarter through the fourth quarter.

(BU) COMPUTERLAND CORP., the nation`s largest personal-computer retailer, will go public within two years as part of an intricate, multimillion-dollar deal with an investor group, it was announced Thursday in San Francisco. The agreement, part of which is still secret, clears ComputerLand of having to pay the investor group, MicroVest Corp., $141.5 million from a lawsuit. It also releases ComputerLand from having to file a $25 million bond by today so it can pursue an appeal. Further, William Millard and his daughter, Barbara, have resigned from the ComputerLand board of directors, and company Vice Chairman Edward Faber has been named chairman. The elder Millard is not to have any operational responsibilities in the 825-store chain until 1994.

(BU) GRUMMAN CORP. of Bethpage, N.Y. said Thursday that it has ended talks about buying the Fairchild Republic Co. aircraft unit from Fairchild Industries Inc. of Chantilly, Va.